![\"Irish](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/09\/Hay_Bluff_across_the_Golden_Valley_from_Dorstone_Hill_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_1616974.jpg\")
<\/a>First of all, Happy St. Patrick\u2019s Day to all of those out there who have ever been Irish, or thought about being Irish, or know somebody who\u2019s Irish, or have heard of either Ireland or St. Patrick\u2019s Day, or who haven\u2019t<\/em>. \u00a0We enjoyed our corned beef, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes today, and I hope that you did, or will, also.<\/p>\n And, while I\u2019m doling out best wishes, we all need to congratulate Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin on his unforeseen election to a fifth term as the president of Russia \u2014 he having also generously served as Russia\u2019s prime minister from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. \u00a0Of course, there were some astute Russia-watchers who actually foresaw<\/em> his re-election. \u00a0But I think it fair to say that even they<\/em> are probably surprised at how wide<\/em> his margin of victory is proving to be. \u00a0And, on that score, the results are still not fully and properly counted. \u00a0Can they perhaps even find<\/em> some more<\/em> votes? \u00a0(I\u2019m not referring to Georgia, of course. \u00a0It has been an independent nation since 1991.)<\/p>\n In the 2002 Iraqi presidential election, the late Saddam Hussein, the country\u2019s phenomenally popular leader, won 100 percent of the ballots cast. \u00a0Not a single Iraqi, no matter how stupid or depraved or even bumbling and incompetent (remember Florida\u2019s \u201changing chads\u201d<\/a> from two years earlier?) cast a vote against him. \u00a0The attention of the world is now riveted upon Russia: \u00a0Can Vladimir Putin exceed Saddam Hussein\u2019s record? \u00a0Can he reach one hundred and one<\/em> percent? \u00a0Personally, I\u2019m on pins and needles.<\/p>\n I was minding my own business early last week when, for no apparent reason, that rather obscure phrase swam across my mental radar screen. \u00a0I hadn\u2019t thought of it for several decades, but I remember that my mother occasionally used it in the sense of \u201cturn out the light!\u201d \u00a0It didn\u2019t occur to me that the phrase was, well, rather odd. \u00a0In all the years since, though, I\u2019ve never heard anybody else use it.<\/p>\n Happily, I now possess the awesome power of the internet. \u00a0So I Googled Douse the glim<\/em>. \u00a0As I expected, the phrase turns out to be Scottish. \u00a0And it does in fact mean \u201cPut out the light; also knock out a man\u2019s eye. To douse is to lower in haste, as \u201cDouse the top-sail\u201d Glim, gleam, glimmer, are variants of the same word.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n With a few seconds\u2019 search, it\u2019s not difficult to find such examples as these:<\/p>\n Come, track up the dancers, and douse the glim.\u201cThe Disowned, Complete\u201d by Edward Bulwer-Lytton<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But douse the glim there; we shan\u2019t want it, and it might give the alarm.\u201cEric\u201d by Frederic William Farrar<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Just goin\u2019 to douse the glim this minute.\u201cFair Harbor\u201d by Joseph Crosby Lincoln<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I doused the glim long ago.\u201cThe Telegraph Messenger Boy\u201d by Edward S. Ellis<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n At this point the order was given, \u201cDouse the glim,\u201d and all lights were extinguished.\u201cThe Mountains of Oregon\u201d by William Gladstone Steel<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Then I doused the glim and turned in, for I knew you wouldn\u2019t be along until daylight.\u201cThe Rival Pitchers\u201d by Lester Chadwick<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Curiously, there is a remote farm in Namaqualand, South Africa, that bears the name \u201cDouse the Glim,\u201d as well as a \u201cDouse the Glim Cave\u201d in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. \u00a0(See here<\/a> for the latter.) \u00a0As for the former, there are apparently two distinct stories<\/a> about the origin of the name:<\/p>\n The first story tells of a Scottish regiment \u00a0encamped here in the Nothern Cape in 1902 during the \u00a0Anglo-Boer War. To keep their location a secret, at dusk the sergeants would tell the troops to \u2018douse the glim\u2019, or put out their lights.<\/p>\n The second story, and the one I prefer, is based on the time where a tired surveyor who, in his tent one night, somewhat irately told his assistant \u00a0\u201cOch, Douse the Glim and go to sleep mon!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Now, I\u2019m not altogether in the dark about how my mother came by the phrase. \u00a0Her grandmother was from Scotland, and there is other Scots ancestry back a ways. \u00a0Somehow, I guess, that phrase was passed down.<\/p>\n Oddly, though, I can\u2019t really think of any Scottish thing else that was transmitted to me. \u00a0To the extent that I was conscious of my ethnic background growing up \u2014 my ancestry comes from Norway, Denmark, and England, as well<\/em> as Scotland \u2014 that background \u00a0was Norwegian<\/em>. \u00a0Such awareness came via my paternal grandmother, who emigrated alone from Norway in her late teens and who died when I was five years old. \u00a0(My paternal grandfather came from Denmark, but as an infant.) \u00a0And, apart from images of the cute little Lutheran church at Helgheim, on the northern shore of J\u00f8lstravatnet, that she attended, it\u2019s mostly limited to foods: \u00a0I absolutely love potato lefse<\/em><\/a>, which I can only persuade my wife to make about once every four or five years because it\u2019s so labor-intensive and makes such a mess in the kitchen. \u00a0(Flour lefse<\/em><\/a> [aka Hardanger lefse<\/em>?], which, I now realize, may be much more common in Norway, wasn\u2019t a part of my growing-up.) \u00a0And I grew up with apotropaic jokes about klub<\/a> and gjetost<\/a> and lutefisk<\/a>.<\/p>\n But douse the glim<\/em>? \u00a0What on earth made me suddenly think of that<\/em>?<\/p>\n Have any of you ever encountered the phrase? \u00a0Are there any other<\/em> random ethnic curiosities \u2014 whether foods or phrases or kilts or Christmas customs or anything else \u2014 that have come down to you from your ancestors?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 First of all, Happy St. Patrick\u2019s Day to all of those out there who have ever been Irish, or thought about being Irish, or know somebody who\u2019s Irish, or have heard of either Ireland or St. Patrick\u2019s Day, or who haven\u2019t. \u00a0We enjoyed our corned beef, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes today, and I hope […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":32127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[37376,37379,5496,22304,22307,22310],"class_list":["post-104288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-douse-the-glim","tag-helgheim","tag-norway","tag-scotland","tag-scots","tag-scottish"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>
This photo, from the 1880s or 1890s, shows the little church that my grandmother, a life-long Lutheran, attended until she left for America at eighteen (i.e., during this very time). The farm on which she was born and raised, S\u00f8gnesand, is at the very end of the KJ\u00f8snesfjord, the area in the distance, enclosed by mountains, at the center of the photograph. They had to travel to the church by boat or, in the winter, sometimes by walking across the iced-over lake. I\u2019ve visited this area several times, and love it very much. The farm still belongs to relatives of mine.
(Public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Douse the glim!<\/em><\/p>\n
\nFor it\u2019s getting rather dim,
\nAnd, with such a storm a-howlin\u2019, \u2019twill not do to douse the glim.
\nHustle down the curtains, Lu;
\nPoke the fire a little, Su;
\nThis is somethin\u2019 of a flurry, mother, somethin\u2019 of a\u2013whew!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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